Thankful at Thanksgiving
by cmguysgirl
Summary: Thanksgiving Dinner and being Thankful for the blessings of family and all that one has. A special day, a wonderful meal and time spent together.


**Thankful** **at** **Thanksgiving**

 **A/N:** While the show is still good, it lacks something from the days of the earlier seasons, yet it is still way better than almost anything on Network tv. I miss the characters that are no longer on the show (Strauss, Morgan, Hotch even though I love watching Shemar on SWAT. If you haven't seen it, then you are missing out. What I would like to see the show do, is have the two casts work together and Garcia could mistake Hondo for Morgan, they do say, everyone has a 'twin' out there, maybe even run up and hug him, before she realizes her mistake and they could have a few cute scenes together as they work together to bring down the bad guys. I do not own any of the shows or characters, but if I did, I would definitely do this cross over (I would have someone else write the script though, as it is not up my alley.)

 **A/N2:** Don't forget to visit the forum: You Give Me Fever a David Rossi and Erin Strauss Shippers Forum

 **A/N3:** I need more Strossi, in my life, so I am calling on all the Strossi fanfic writers out there, that have seemed to drop off the planet, to get back into the game. Let's try to create an avalanche of Strossi fanfic throughout the rest of this year and all through next year. I know we don't get as many reviews as other fandoms, for the most part, and that can be discouraging, but that doesn't mean, that our couple is loved any less.

 **A/N4:** This is the 4th and final author's note for this story (which in my world is apropos as Strauss should have been the 4th and final Mrs. David Rossi. I do have another Holiday Fic, a Christmas fic, that if I can put the finishing touches on, will be posted soon. It is still in the ideal that has partially jumped on document stage. I do realize that this is a Thanksgiving Fic and the proposed one is a Christmas fic and that both holidays have passed but they weren't ready then, so I am posting them now as goodness knows what might happen to them in a year. Much love to you and God grant you a safe, healthy, prosperous, compassionate, end of this year and New Year.

 **Thankful** **at** **Thanksgiving**

All in all, it had been a good day. Erin sighed happily as she applied foil over the last of the food that needed to be put away. She thought about how special this day of Thanksgiving had been. They had decided to forego the special Mass tonight, as they were the hosts of this year's event and didn't want to chance everyone caravanning to the church and back, on the snowy and icy roads. For that same reason, they had insisted on everyone staying overnight and possibly the next day or two, until the storm abated enough to make the roads safe for travel once again. Everyone had readily agreed since the airport had canceled all flights out and the state police had closed all the roads in the area, except for emergency travel. She gave an extra prayer of thanks, that David and his team were off rotation for the holidays this year, so they wouldn't have to brave the hazardous conditions, trying to make it into Quantico for whatever cases came in. Serial Killers committed less crimes when weather conditions were this bad, but some still acted using the weather as a natural countermeasure to quickly coverup their nefarious deeds. She had shooed everyone out of the kitchen a few minutes ago, since there were only three more pieces to put away and she wanted a minute of solitude.

When she went to place the dish in the refrigerator, she found it to already be too full to add anything else, so she walked out the kitchen door into the garage to check if there was room in that one. It took a little maneuvering and rearranging but after a minute or two, she had enough room to slide the dish inside on top of another leftover from dinner, while still leaving plenty of room for air to circulate. She couldn't believe how much food was left over, but then again, she hadn't been able to believe how much food they had in the first place.

The two long tables were so laden with food, she wondered how they didn't collapse under the weight. It was a lot of food, but seeing as they had 35 people present, if they had of had less food, she would have worried that they would run out before everyone ate their fill. Today had certainly been different than any other Thanksgiving she and her kids had every celebrated.

Rossi had invited everyone from his team, past and present, and their families. She had been shocked when Jason Gideon accepted. She knew he had come back into the team's life a little over a year ago, and had been reaccepted into the fold, but she didn't think he was much for 'family get-togethers' but when he called to accept, he had told Rossi that one of the things he had learned while he was away, was how to let himself be loved by others and give that love back in return. He had asked if he could bring his son Stephen and his family with him as he wanted to take the first step towards bringing all of the parts of his life together and what better way to do that than to spend the holidays with both his biological family and the family that chose him.

David had not seen his namesake in a few years, so he quickly agreed, telling Gideon, they should plan to make a long weekend of the trip, so everyone could relax and maybe they could take Jason's grandkids on a tour of some of the sites to see, in the Nation's Capital. Gideon had agreed, teasing David, "as long as the sites were PG", as he knew him and his ideal of a tour of anyplace included some of the area's most colorful establishments and dens of iniquity. David had laughed and said that was the old him, he was a 'PG' man now that he was a family man. She had never been so proud of him.

Hotch had arrived with his clan, including his wife Emily, oldest son Jack, twin daughters Anabel and Ariel and infant son Justice David Hotchner.

Hotch and Emily had quite a struggle choosing a name for their youngest son. Aaron had joked it reminded him of the time he and Gideon had bandied about baby names, one day at the office, before Jack was born, as almost every name they came up with for Hotch to suggest as possibilities for him and Hailey to choose from, was the name of a famous serial killer and they didn't want to saddle the kid with that type of legacy, especially since those were the types of people his father hunted every day.

Eventually Emily and Aaron had settled on a name Derek Morgan suggested in Jest. He stated that they should just name the kid Justice since that is how they met, fighting for justice for those whose lives were ended too quickly by serial killers. Spenser Reid then said, you might want to jump on that name before he suggests BAU. Garcia chimed in with, I am sure the only reason he didn't was that no one would know how to Pronounce it as a name.

Jennifer and William LaMontagne arrived with their sons: Henry, Michael, Emeric and two daughters Josette Roseline and Lily Alicia. Will was now a full time stay at home dad, since they had five kids in the household. He did some freelance detective work part time for the FBI as a special contractor under a new program that had been started three years ago. The new Director had started the program as a pet project.

Emeric, whose name means leader, was originally going to be named Bastien until his Godfather Spenser pointed out that the name could too easily be associated with the word Bast… and school was hard enough for a child without inviting a reason to be bullied. It had been much easier to name their eldest daughter. Will chose Josette as it reminded him of JJ, sweet but strong and JJ chose the middle name Roseline in honor of her late sister. The name was similar enough to how her sister spelled her name, Rosaline, to be a tribute but just different enough to allow her daughter to be her own person. JJ's mom was in town for the holiday so naturally she came along for the festivities.

Garcia and Morgan had combined to create several as Garcia had put it once long ago, genetically perfect offspring. Two sets of identical twins: Hank Edwardo, named for Derek father and Penelope's stepfather, respectively and David Spenser, to honor the men who had been like a father and brother to them; Isiah Aaron and Jeremiah Derek were their youngest set of twins. Natalie Elise the oldest girl had been born in between the twin's births and it hadn't been long since Penelope gave birth to their youngest child, Katie Elizabeth.

Alex Blake and her Husband, James, had been invited but due to the severe snow storm hadn't been able to fly in from Boston. Everyone had been saddened by the fact as they had been looking forward to meeting the little boy and girl that they had adopted since Alex left the BAU.

Luke Alvez couldn't make it either. He was presently stationed in the Middle East, running an elite taskforce and things had heated up in that area in the last week. He hated missing out on spending the holiday with the team, but duty came first.

David had tried several times to reach Ashley Seaver but then he found out from Andi Swann that she was deep undercover. Her assignment was expected to last at least a couple more months, so it was unlikely that she would be able to make it for Christmas either.

Kevin and Gina Lynch had RSVP'd but he had called just before noon to say Gina was in active labor. He promised he would call once the baby was born. Erin said a silent prayer that everything would go fine and both mother and baby would be okay.

Spenser and Tara Reid, who were still newlyweds had arrived just in time for dinner as they had begged off from the predinner celebration, so they could spend some time with his mom earlier that day. Spenser said they had a lot to be extra thankful this year as the new facility he had moved his mom to was making great strides, not just in the treatment of Schizophrenia but were also making leaps and bounds towards finding a way to slow down the progress and hopefully one-day cure Dementia and Alzheimer's. They had both walked into the house beaming and throughout the evening regaled everyone with stories of how his mother, Diana Reid had not only been able to remember both them and the children, two-year-old Matthew Elden and six week old Kaiden Thomas, but also to recount stories to the staff about the kids that Spenser had written to her about in his letters. Everyone was thrilled for him as they knew how much his mother meant to Reid and how much he had sacrificed for her.

Kate, her husband Chis, their niece Megan and daughter Hannah arrived just minutes after the Reid's. They had eaten an early supper with Chris' family, watching the early football games as was their tradition but left before the rest of their relatives went out for their other holiday tradition of going to see a movie and then going out to get in line at their favorite stores for Black Friday Shopping.

Grant Anderson had asked if he could bring a plus one. Everyone was surprised when he showed up with Jordan Todd. They had kept up with each other over the years and had been dating for the last couple. It was obvious the couple was deeply in love from the way they looked and acted around each other. Jordan was sporting a brand-new diamond and sapphire engagement ring. Anderson had popped the question over breakfast that morning and she had happily told him yes. They hadn't set a date yet but were thinking sometime this summer.

"Mom, I was sent to tell you that they have everything ready to decorate the tree" she heard as her oldest child entered the room and broke her out of her musings. Erin had been so wrapped up in her musings that she hadn't heard her daughter enter the kitchen.

"Well we can't keep everyone waiting now can we" Erin stated as she walked over to where her child was standing, threw an arm around her shoulder, kissed her on the head and guided her out of the kitchen, towards the living room, where they would be decorating the 8-foot-tall Blue Spruce. Dave had impressed his male teammates into service yesterday to go up to his cabin at Little Creek, to help him cut down the Tree that she and the children chose, load it on top of the car, unload it when they got back to his mansion, drag it into the house and set it up in the living room.

As she entered the living room, everyone looked towards her as unbeknownst to her, Rossi had told everyone that she was in charge of giving out assignments. When she was informed of this, Erin silently raised one eyebrow and looked at Dave with a look that promised retribution for putting her on the spot like that, but she dove right in and it was obvious by how smooth and quickly things went with that many people involved, that he had made the right choice. Once the tree was finished, Dave rounded up volunteers to help make hot chocolate. It was always a big hit as Dave added Cinnamon sticks, peppermint, and mini marshmallows to the chocolatey goodness. On a bitterly cold night like tonight, the warm beverage was always welcome. Homemade chocolate chip cookies were passed around in tins, to complete the bedtime snack. For those who wanted something a bit more adult, once all the kids were put to bed, he made a special batch of his famous Spiced Egg Nog. It was a good thing that everyone was staying the night because as potent as the Nog was, those who drank more than one cup of it could hardly walk, not to mention drive.

Rossi had lit a fire earlier, in the bedroom fireplace so the room was nice and cozy as she entered. She gathered the items she needed to shower and change and proceeded into the Master bathroom. Dave was still downstairs, along with most of the team and probably would continue to be for a while as they were all off tomorrow due to the roads being impassable, but she was bone weary as she had been up since 4:00 am due to the fact she had a 6:00 am breakfast meeting with the director.

It will be good to just sit back in a nice warm, relaxing bubble bath with no interruptions for once she thought, as she turned on the faucet in the tub. Tonight, she opted for the Vanilla, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar bubble bath. Erin loved the smell of it as it reminded her of walking into a warm and cozy kitchen filled with freshly baked goods. Besides her David, was always extra amorous after she had used this bubble bath. He'd wink at her after taking a huge exaggerated sniff and say that "she smelled good enough to eat" before putting word to deed. She lit the candles she had placed around the tub and turned on some smooth jazz while she waited for the tub to fill. When the tub was filled to the perfect level, she shut off the tap and began to undress. Just as she finished undressing, the doorknob turned, and the love of her life entered the room, bragging about always having 'perfect' timing.

As she stepped into the tub, she commented, "I am surprised you came up so early. With almost everyone still downstairs, I thought you would have stayed down there, half the night".

"While I love my teammates dearly, when it comes to a choice between spending the evening with them or spending the evening naked with you, without having to worry about being interrupted by being called away for a case, you win hands down every time" Rossi stated as he removed the last of his clothes and joined her in the tub.

"You had no way of knowing, I'd be naked though, David" she snarked at him.

"I was coming up with plans to get you out of your clothes, faster than Reid can read, as I walked up the stairs, my dear" Dave rejoined.

All Erin could do was shake her head and laugh. David Rossi would never change and to be honest, she wouldn't want him any other way. There was just something about the confident, arrogant without being conceited debonair man, that made her heart skip several beats when he was around. At work that attitude, drove her crazy, certifiable, up and down the wall, back and forth around the clock, crazy… but at home, it drew her to him like iron to a magnet. It had a lot to do with how kind, loving, giving of his time, strong and protective he was of her and her children. Many were the nights they had lain together and talked about how much they regretted not fighting for what they had years ago. They often wondered what the lives would have been like if they had married and had children together, the first time they dated. The thought always saddened her a little, especially since her ex-husband seemed to only care about her and the kids when he was showing them off to his colleagues. It was not easy being picture perfect all the time. Luckily for her, she had finally found a man who loved her and her kids for whom they were.

"You are thinking too hard when we are supposed to be relaxing and enjoying each other" Dave said to her as her kissed her on the neck and dribbled little drops of bathwater down her arm. He could tell from the shift in her body language, that she had entered into some pretty heavy and unpleasant thoughts.

"You want to share?" he asked.

"Nothing that should be occupying either of our attention at a moment like this," she told him as she lay back in his arms and let her mind drift away on more pleasant thoughts as she enjoyed his ministrations.

Before the two of them exited the bathtub, they had managed to not only get cleaned up but get into a splash fight that left water all over the bathroom floor. As usual, the devil had gotten into Rossi and he had started it. He just couldn't resist needling Erin and getting under her skin. As competitive as she was, there was no way, Erin was going to let him win. She added insult to injury when she informed him since he started it, he could clean up the mess they made. After she had toweled off and dressed, she took pity on him and gave him a hand righting the room.

When they entered the master bedroom, she waited for him to finish dressing, before she took his hand and they knelt together beside the bed and prayed. It had been something that Erin did every night before bed, all her life. When she made it home before they went to bed, she and the children prayed together before they went to sleep each night. When she and David had first gotten back together, it was something she discussed with him. He went along with it at first, for her because he knew she was in the habit of doing it and he wanted to make her happy but as time went on, he began to enjoy this special time they spent together and truly believed it strengthened their relationship.

After they finished praying, Dave used the bed to brace on as he got up and then helped Erin up. The sounds of knees popping were a tangible reminder that they were not as young as they used to be and that they should cherish every precious moment they have together. Rossi pulled back the cover and helped her to bed before getting in himself. David and Erin made love that night, enjoying the sweet communion and fellowship that only comes when and man and woman love each other so deeply that not even death can destroy that bond. As she sighed contentedly and fell asleep in her husband's arms, Erin Strauss-Rossi thanked God once again for all the blessings he had given her.

The End

Cmguysgirl


End file.
